Denny O'Neil, Batman comics writer, passes away

Legendary comics writer and editor Dennis “Denny” O’Neil, best known for writing and editing Batman comic books, died on June 11 of natural causes. He was 81.

O’Neil wrote 'Batman', 'Detective Comics' and 'Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight' in addition to serving as an editor for DC’s Batman-related comic books from 1986 until 2000. 

He also wrote for other iconic comic book heroes, this time for Marvel, including Spider-Man and Iron Man.

He was also involved in naming Optimus Prime, the leader of the Transformers series.

Following his death, family and friends flooded social media with love for the comic world legend.

O’Neil was born on May 3, 1939 in St. Louis, Mo. and graduated from St. Louis University, where he studied English literature, creative writing and philosophy. He began his career in comics in the early 1960s as Stan Lee’s assistant at Marvel and briefly worked at Charlton Comics before he was hired at DC Comics in 1968.